1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a connector and, in particular, to a connector which includes a connector housing with a housing body having a terminal receiving chamber receiving thereinside a terminal, and a housing cover receiving the connector housing.
2. Description of the Related Art
Patent Document 1 (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2004-220970) discloses a conventional half-fitting preventing connector (see FIG. 14). The half-fitting preventing connector includes a female connector housing 100 as a housing connector with the terminal receiving chamber that receives a female terminal TF and the housing cover, i.e., a fitting detection member 200 that receives the female connector housing 100.
Unless the female connector housing 100 is in complete engagement with a mating male connector housing 300, the fitting detection member 200 does not allow the female connector housing 100 to be slid from an initial position where the female connector housing 100 still projects from a front opening of the fitting detection member 200 to an engagement-detection position where the entire female connector housing 100 is received in the fitting detection member 200. Whether or not the female connector housing 100 is completely engaged with the male connector housing 300 can be judged by whether the female connector housing 100 is positioned at the initial position or at the engagement-detection position.
The conventional female connector housing 100 has a main body 110, a flexible lock arm 120, and projections 130 configured to engage a pair of engaging portions formed at the fitting detection member 200. The main body, flexible lock arm, and projection in Patent Document 1 correspond to a housing main body, a first flexible lock arm, and a first retaining projection of the connector according to the present invention, respectively. The main body 110 is provided with the terminal receiving chambers that receive female terminals. The flexible lock arm 120 has a stay portion 121 upstanding from the main body 110, and an arm 122 which, when viewed from the stay portion 121, extends from the front end to the rear end of the female terminal TF along a length direction of the female connector housing 100. By virtue of this configuration, the flexible lock arm 120 is displaced in a seesaw-like manner about the stay portion 121 acting as a fulcrum. The projection 130 is provided to the rear end in the length direction when viewed from the stay portion 121 of the flexible lock arm 120.
The fitting detection member 200 has a cylindrical main body 210, an engaging portion 220, which corresponds to a second retaining projection of the present invention, and a flexible locking arm 230, which corresponds to a second flexible lock arm as a retention reinforcement portion of the present invention. The cylindrical main body 210 receives the female connector housing 100. The engaging portion 220 protrudes in the cylindrical main body 210 and engages the top end of the projection 130. By virtue of an engagement of the projection 130 and the engaging portion 220, the female connector housing 100 is detached from the fitting detection member 200 even when the fitting detection member 200 is displaced in a detachment direction, i.e., toward the rear end of the length direction Y1.
The flexible locking arm 230 abuts a front end of the arm 122. When the fitting detection member 200 is moved in the detachment direction, the front end of the arm 122 is flexibly deformed toward a lower side in the drawing. The rear end of the arm 122 is then flexibly deformed toward an upper side in the drawing, causing the projection 130 to be displaced toward the upper side in the drawing, i.e., in a direction in which the engagement with the engaging portion 220 is strengthened. In this manner, engagement is strengthened.
However, the conventional flexible lock arm 120 has a drawback: Since the deformation of the front side of the arm 122 is transmitted to the rear side of the arm 122 via the stay portion 121 slanting toward the front side of the arm 122, and a slant of a front side of the stay portion 121 is steeper than that of a rear side of the stay portion 121, the amount of deformation of the rear end of the arm 122 is therefore smaller than that of the front end of the arm 122. When a thickness of the stay portion 121 is made larger, the amount of deformation of the rear end of the arm 122 with respect to the front side of the arm 122 becomes smaller.
Also, since the connectors with reduced size and less height do not allow the front end of the arm 122 to be bent to a large extent, the conventional connectors fail to ensure sufficient engagement of the female connector housing 100 with the fitting detection member 200. As a result, the female connector housing 100 may be accidentally disengaged from the fitting detection member 200.